The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is seeking to increase the number of institutions offering its infamous refresher training programme – the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programme.
In an advertisement posted in the dailies, the Commission has advertised a tender for the provision of TPD training and related programmes for registered teachers, with interested institutions being given up to February 14, 2024 to submit their applications.
Unlike before when the Commission only accredited four institutions – Mt. Kenya, Kenyatta and Riara universities and Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI) – all centralized in Nairobi, this time round the Commission is planning to accredit institutions across the eight regions in the country.
The Commission has further asked the interested Educational Institutions to provide information demonstrating that they meet the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Consultancy Services.
“The Teachers Service Commission intends to shortlist Educational Training Institutions to provide consultancy services for the Provision of Teachers Professional Development (TPD) Training and Related Programmes for registered Teachers in Kenya,” reads the Request for Expression of Interest (REOI) published in one of the dailies.
“TSC now invites eligible and qualified educational training institutions to bid as individual institutions or as consortiums within their regions of operations namely (Nairobi, Western, Nyanza, Rift Valley, Eastern, Coast, North Eastern, and Central) in providing the Consultancy Services for the provision of TPD training and related programmes for registered teachers in Kenya,” it continued.
TSC rolled out the TPD programme on September 22, 2021, at the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) in Karen with seven (7) prescribed modules each having 5 chapters, addressing all seven (7) Kenya Professional Teaching Standards (KePTS).
According to the Commission, teachers were required to pay Ksh6,000 every year for the training sessions, assessment, reporting and other associated costs that in the end would see a teacher pay Ksh30,000 to complete one module in five years and Ksh180,000 for six modules in three decades.
This caused massive public outcry from teachers who lamented that the amount was too much while questioning why the Commission selected institutions based in Nairobi instead of decentralizing the programme.
The National Assembly then stopped the roll-out through a petition but the Commission received the green light to continue with the programme after the Employment and Labour Relation Court (ELRC) in Nakuru struck out a suit challenging its implementation in September 2022.
Education Consultant Joseph Ng’ethe had moved to court seeking orders to stop TSC from rolling out the programme citing lack of public participation.
For fear of missing out on promotional positions as a result of not enrolling for the refresher course, a document prepared by the Commission on TPD titled Framework and Roll out Of Structured TPD in Kenya dated April 2022 shows that a total of 96,186 enrolled for Introductory Module including 85,105 teachers; 4,286 Secondary School Principals and 6,795 Primary School Headteachers.
By Education News reporter
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